You Bet!
You Bet! was a charity stunt game show based on the German show, Wetten, dass..? Gameplay Three celebrities (four when Matthew Kelly was the host) appeared each week, betting on how members of the public could complete unlikely challenges and stunts, which they practised many times within a certain amount of time. Some of the challenges were played in the studio, while the rest took place on location. Challengers who were successful received a betsy (or, in later series, a trophy); failing meant they received a scroll (or, in later series, a medal). Each celebrity would bet on weather or not the challenge would be completed successfully, as did the 100 members of the studio audience. Each celebrity sponsored one challenge, but the one who did so always had to bet that the challenger would succeed; the host always sponsored the final challenge (in the fourth and fifth series, the hostess would sponsor a challenge too). Each celebrity who bet correctly scored points based on how many audience members did the same. For every audience member who bet correctly, one point would go into an "audience pot." In the final series, each celebrity was given a You Bet! Bonus Card. At any point in the game, they could play the card, and if they bet correctly, they would score double the points. However, they could only play it once in the whole game. At the end of the show, the total number of points scored by the panelists, as well as the total number of points in the "audience pot," would be added together, converted into pounds, and donated to a charity chosen by the celebrity with the highest score. In early series, only the points from the audience and the winning celebrity were added together, plus (after the first series) a £1,000 bonus. In later series, it was changed to the aforementioned scoring system; although as the show went on, this was multiplied by a certain number, due to inflation. Forfeits and the Celebrity Challenge In the first seven series, panelists sponsoring a failed challenge had to do a forfeit that they chose before the show; this also applied to the host. When Bruce Forsyth was the host, the majority vote determined his prediction, with an incorrect prediction resulting in him doing his forfeit. When Matthew Kelly was the host, it worked like the panelists' forfeits: if the challenge was completed, he didn't have to do his forfeit; otherwise, he had to. When Bruce Forsyth was the host, the panelists told the host what forfeits they wanted to do. When Matthew Kelly became the host, this was changed to them choosing their forfeits from a list of cryptic clues. For the eighth series, the forfeits were replaced with a celebrity challenge: the celebrity who scored the fewest points would do one forfeit challenge, which would be shown the following week. The public would then have a chance to donate £1,000 to charity by predicting if the celebrity succeeded or failed. This wasn't a success, so they brought back the forfeits, this time chosen automatically by the show's crew at the end of the show for the celebrity with the lowest score. In the final series, the celebrity challenge returned, but was changed a little bit: at the end of the show, the audience would choose the challenge from two possibilities with cryptic clues to their objective. Rap When Bruce Forsyth hosted the show, he would close each episode with the You Bet! Rap, with the audience shouting the show's name in between lines. The rap went like this: Do you wanna bet on it? (YOU BET!) So you wanna bet on it? (YOU BET!) So don't fret, get set, are you ready? (YOU BET!) The rap was dropped from the show when Matthew Kelly became the host in the fourth series. YouTube Links Full Episodes Full Episode from Series 2 *Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 *Part 4 *Part 5 *Part 6 *Part 7 Full Episode from Series 3 *Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 *Part 4 Full Episode from Series 4 Full Episode from Series 5 Full Episode from Series 6 Full Episode from Series 7 Category:Stunts & Dares Category:Panel Game Category:Gambling Category:Celebrity Category:ITV Shows Category:Long-Running Category:1988 premieres Category:1997 endings